Tag Archives: budget

Danny Alexander gives budget VAT boost to his own constituency

While pasties and pensioners took a hammering on 21 March, Danny Alexander handed himself a budget bribe — in the form of VAT relief for ski lifts in his Highlands constituency. This is the second year in a row that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has benefited from changes in the Finance Bill.

Buried away on page 74 of the Budget is the Treasury’s plan for cable-based transport systems, which will cut costs for the dozens of ski lifts in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.

“The Government will introduce a 5 per cent reduced rate of VAT for passenger transportation in cable-based transport systems carrying fewer than ten people.”

The tax break is clearly aimed specifically at ski lifts; cable vehicles which carry more than ten passengers are already exempt from paying VAT.

In last year’s budget,  the Tories in charge felt they should “give Alexander something” to keep him quiet; so they managed to rescue the state subsidy for the Cairngorm Mountain Railway.

But with YouGov now predicting Beaker will lose his seat, it might take more than cut-price ski lift tickets to keep him in line until 2015.

Grandma 2.0: pensioner launches petition against hated Granny Tax

A pensioner has launched an e-petition against the government issuing a de-facto tax rise against the elderly. Arthur Streatfield’s appeal, currently with 28 signatures, demands the government ”take immediate action to reverse the decisions on these allowances”:

“We consider that at a time when pensioners are struggling to make ends meet and yet are a group of people due to age, health etc who often have extremely limited opportunity to make good lost income, this reduction in allowances is grossly unfair.”

Treasury wonks may already be working out compensatory tax measures.

Millionaire George Osborne denies he’s a highest rate taxpayer

Speaking on the Today Programme earlier, George Osborne has denied he is a highest rate taxpayer who would benefit from the 5% cut he announced yesterday. His £134,565 salary puts him just £15,435 shy of the higher rate (aka additional rate) tax band.

When challenged by Evan Davis that he had other sources of income which would put him over the line, Osborne retorted:

“I’m not, actually.”

But the Register of Member’s Financial Interests reveals he has been in receipt of rent from a property in London since at least July 2011.

What property in London can you rent for less than £16,000 per year?

UPDATE (09:14) »According to DirectGov, rental income is still treated as a business, so not taxed as earned income. Is this how Osborne can make his claims today?

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UPDATE (09:28) »This is the house which Osborne's family lived in until they moved into Downing Street at exactly the same time the rental entry appears on the register. We somehow doubt you could rent this for less than £307 per week.

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UPDATE (09:41) »From DirectGov: “Your taxable profit from property letting is added to your overall income. If this is more than your tax allowances you'll pay tax on it at normal Income Tax rates.” -- unless you've set up some other legal vehicle?

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UPDATE (10:31) »The Guardian's Polly Curtis is reporting that Osborne owns a 15% share in family wallpaper firm Osborne & Little. But the firm made a staggering loss in 2010-2011 and didn't pay dividends, so wouldn't contribute to his taxable income for the last year.

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UPDATE (11:45) »Scrapbook has spoken to a tax expert about methods which Osborne may have used to keep his rental income out of his taxable income. The simplest would seem to be a joint ownership with his wife owning a higher percentage of the property- Osborne then paying tax on less than half of the income. Alternatively, he could have extensively refurbished the property after moving into Number 11, to count the amount of the expenditure as deducatable. Both of these methods are, at present, legal

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UPDATE (14:35) »Looks like it's “no comment” on the cabinet's tax arrangements:

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Number 10: "Tax arrangements are private between [ministers] and HMRC"
@pollycurtis
polly curtis

Budget Nasties: the bits George Osborne forgot to mention

UPDATE (16:10) »They are calling the pensioners' tax allowance freeze the Granny Tax now, with Ed Balls telling the Commons that 'This looks like a tax grab on grannies'. Oh, dear.

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The budget has been delivered, and as usual the devil is in the detail. Now experts and politicos will be delving into the small print to find out all of the little changes and measures that George Osborne didn’t dwell on- those stings in the tail that will be causing the government trouble in the next few days. Here, we will be bringing them to you as they become apparent.

  • Osborne has introduced a new corporate tax loophole which will cost the UK £1 billion and take £4 billion from developing countries used as tax havens by British businesses (from ActionAid).
  • 4.5 million pensioners, nearly half of all pensioners in the country, will be worse off in real terms as a result of Osborne’s Granny Tax (more from Gransnet).
  • The government has admitted that cuts to income tax relief could slash major donations to charities, which rely on public generosity (more at HM Treasury).
  • The budget hints at a further £10.5bn welfare cuts still to come (more at The Guardian)
  • The plans announced in the budget today are set to hit pensioners hard as the government pockets £1.2 billion by freezing age-related tax allowances. Freezing the personal tax allowance means a tax rise by the back door for around 150,000 pensioners who could face having to work longer with another review of the pension age – whilst Osborne drops the top rate of tax by 5% (more at Citywire).
  • The tax hike was presented as a “tax simplification” by Osborne – but experts quickly spotted the extra burden for some of the nation’s most vulnerable.
  • The average family with children will lose £253 per year as a result of the measures contained in the budget- with the average household income reduced by 1% – but by 2% for the poorest 20% of the population (more at The Daily Express).
  • Around 14,000 British millionaires will keep getting richer, paying £40,000 less in taxes each year as a result of the 5% tax cut given to them by the Chancellor (more at The Guardian).
  • The OBR say that cutting the 50p tax rate will do nothing for the economy, making “no … material adjustments to the economy forecast” (more at HM Treasury).
  • The basic rate of tax threshold will fall from £34,370 to £32,245 between 2013 and 2014, hitting the squeezed middle once again, as the richest have their tax bills cut (more at HM Treasury).
  • 200,000 – 300,000 more people will start paying a higher rate of tax, with the threshold starting at £41,450 (more at The Telegraph)
  • Following the budget, the OBR have dropped their forecast for business investment this year from 7.7% to just 0.7% (from Will Straw).
  • The OBR have also increased their forecast for public sector job cuts up by 20,000 to 730,000 (from George Eaton).

Have we missed another Budget Nasty? comment below or tweet us @PSbook.

Bookies send Ken Clarke a case of energy drinks

Bookies aren’t taking any chances after Ken Clarke’s snooze during the budget yesterday cost them a four figure sum. The Ladbrokes political team have sent him a case of energy drinks in the hope of avoiding another payout.

He is now even money with to fall asleep at a major political conference or speech in the next year.

Becoming a laughing stock is rarely helpful to one’s career.

Will Cameron sack sleepy Ken Clarke at the next reshuffle?


Did Ken Clarke’s political career pass away peacefully in his sleep today? The Justice Secretary is already too liberal for many Tory MPs — falling asleep during the budget may cost him his job come the next reshuffle.

Jazz-loving Clarke is unchanged at 12/1 with Ladbrokes to be next Cabinet minister to leave the government.

Sounds like good value to Scrapbook.

Budget live chat

Libya to dominate budget week news agenda: Osborne reacts

With Cameron set to receive a personal ratings boost for his “statesmanship” during the Libya crisis, his chancellor stands to benefit from distracted scrutiny of Wednesday’s budget.

Watch for scraps being thrown toward Lib Dem ministers’ pet projects.

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